Wal-Mart Dismisses Protesters as Paid Agents

Jun 5, 2013 12:11 pm ET

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A picket line to protest Walmart’s retaliation against workers who speak out on May 30, 2013 in Pico Rivera, California

By Shelly Banjo

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Wal-Mart executives opened a week-long celebration leading up to the company’s annual shareholders meeting with a screed against a group of employees who are holding corresponding protests outside of its Bentonville, Ark., corporate headquarters.

“Let me be clear these associates are not part of Wal-Mart,” said Gisel Ruiz, Chief Operating Officer at Wal-Mart Stores Inc., to a stadium full of U.S. workers the company brought to Arkansas to attend its yearly employee pep rally Friday.

“They are part of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) and they are paid to be here and disrupt this week’s activities and that is just plain wrong,” Ms. Ruiz said of the protesters.